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Harald Neckel
In Orchids for Biggles, Harald Neckel was an ex-Rumanian nuclear scientist working for the British government who absconded with sensitive top secret documents for which he demanded a million dollars in ransom. Neckel was born some 44 years before the events in the book of Rumanian diplomats in Lima, Peru, and grew up learning to speak Spanish like a native. At twelve, he was sent to school in the United States and thereafter followed his parents back to Bucharest. There, his aptitude for mathematics led him to pursue a degree in science, eventually rising to become a university professor. Twelve years before the events in the book, Neckel defected to the West and sought political asylum in Britain. The British authorities found him to be a mathematical genius and put him to work, at first in a minor position at a research laboratory under tight security surveillance. With year after year of exemplary service, Neckel was steadily promoted and the security restrictions relaxed until he became one of Britain's top scientists in nuclear research. It was then that Neckel made his move, absconding with sensitive records of correspondence between the British government and her allies and demanding a million dollars for their safe return. It was not made clear in the book whether Neckel had planned this move all along, but British authorities did conclude that, unlike many other traitors, Neckel had not been motivated by politics but was simply interested in money. Neckel fled to South America to await the response of the British government, settling in the Peruvian Amazonian town of Cruzuado at the tripoint of Peru's borders with Brazil and Bolivia--a place he had skilfully chosen to allow an easy escape to another country should he find himself under pursuit or threat of extradition. At Cruzuado, Neckel adopted the local name of "Luis Salvador" and bought a house, the Casa Floresta set in the jungles near the town. He employed a local man, Carlo, as sentry for the house and also paid money to the receptionist at the local hotel, Dolores, to keep him posted about new arrivals. Dolores was also asked to collect any mail addressed to "Neckel" and bring them to him. Unfortunately, Neckel had also been pursuing a relationship with Maria, a dancer at the local Bar Francisco. Maria became intensely jealous about Dolores seeing Neckel. Shortly after Biggles' arrival at Cruzuado looking for Neckel, Dolores was murdered by Maria while on the way to the Casa Floresta. Biggles came across the body and found a letter she was carrying, address to Neckel, from the British government. Using the delivery of this letter as an excuse, Biggles called on Neckel the next day, hoping to get a clue about the whereabouts of the stolen documents. However, before he could achieve much, they were both interrupted by the forced intrusion of Bogosoff, a Russian whom Biggles had met earlier and who turned out to be an enemy agent after the same thing. Bogosoff demanded that Neckel hand over the documents or he would kill him, a threat to be taken seriously because he had earlier shot Carlo, Neckel's servant. Fortunately, Bogosoff was driven off by the coincidental arrival of the intendente, the chief of the local police, who came to question Neckel about the death of Dolores. The next day, Biggles and Berties determined to visit the Casa Floresta again but on entering the house, found Neckel dead. His throat had been slashed by a machete and he would play no further part in the plot of the book. Neckel's documents were eventually recovered but his killer was never found. Bertie suspected that it might have been José, the foreman of Peter Fotherham. José had been fond of Dolores and had been distraught to learn of her murder. He blamed Neckel, whose two-timing with the women had led to Maria killing her. Bertie had heard José say he would take his revenge. While Bertie was watching Neckel's house, he had also seen a person looking like José walk away from the house. But such suspicions as Biggles and Bertie had, they kept to themselves, and no case was ever proven. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters